How to Find Properties for Rent Within Your Budget

Taking on a move is never a simple task.

Whether you’re moving down the street in your current city, across the state, or maybe out of the country, there is so much to think about. The expenses add up and the time always seems to fly.

Even when you’re moving from one rented space to another, you don’t have to worry about selling, but moving is still a hassle. The best way to make this process easier on yourself is to plan ahead!

The more you plan, the better prepared you will be once moving day comes.

First things first, though – you have to find your new place among all the endless properties for rent out there. This is arguably the most important part of moving. It can also be the easiest if you do it right.

Here’s how to find the perfect new place to rent.

Establish Your Budget

Before you start picturing yourself living in the properties for rent that you’re looking at, you have to see which ones you can actually afford. Beginning with your budget allows you to make the best decision for your lifestyle as a whole.

The following are the most basic ways to think of your current savings in terms of moving.

Analyze Your Current Expenses

Remember, when you budget for a move, you still have all your regular expenses to cover, too. Think about how much you pay in total for monthly expenses. This could be any sum of:

  • a phone bill
  • a car payment/insurance bill
  • dental and health insurance
  • credit card payments and other debt
  • miscellaneous monthly memberships/subscriptions
  • reoccurring expenses for your business

These are all things that you have to stay on top of and not miss payments for while you move. Make sure you can pay these first, then break down how much you’re willing to spend on your move from the remaining amount.

Predict What You Can Make Monthly

Is your moving budget looking a little scarce after you factor in your regular expenses? Not to worry – you haven’t considered how much you’re going to make between now and your move!

This will help balance out what you plan to pay for normal things and what you can add to your moving budget. Try to still put some of your upcoming earnings into savings, just in case.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to you how much money you want to put into your moving fund. Give yourself a deadline by which you want to put down a deposit on a property. Maybe even work a little overtime between now and then to make more money with your home business for the move.

Search for Properties for Rent Online

Once you have your budget all straightened out, it’s time to start looking at different properties for rent. To make your search simple and convenient, start with an online search.

This is as simple as entering a query into a search engine and seeing what kind of rental sites come up. Make your search specific by entering the city where you want to live and the borough which you’re most interested in.

There are some other ways you can specify your search, too.

Set Price Parameters

Your search engine question should lead you to a few sites with properties for rent.

These will be big-name resources like Zillow, Trulia, and more. In places like Miami, Chicago, and New York, there are plenty of start-ups trying to make the rental market easier for tenants as well.

Whichever site you choose to use, make sure you set price parameters before browsing the properties for rent available. This keeps you within your budget and saves you from falling in love with a certain place, only to realize you can’t pay for it.

When you set up the parameters, make your maximum price a little under what you budgeted for rent.

By a little, leave a gap of a few hundred dollars or so. This cushions you to have enough for rent as well as cable and internet, water, trash, and maintenance fees. These will vary from property to property.

Check Multiple Sites

No matter how great the search experience is on one site for rental properties, make sure to check out a few different places online you can conduct your search.

This gives you a wide variety of properties for rent to choose from and helps you make the most informed decision.

Such a range of sites may even lead you to opportunities to rent in places you haven’t even thought of! Maybe you end up browsing through Panama rentals or looking at places in Thailand or Amsterdam to call home for a while.

That is the beauty of renting, after all. With no tight commitment in any certain place, you can actually go anywhere!

Contact Your Top Choices and Visit Properties

Whether your favorite rental option ends up being a few blocks away from where you live now, or halfway around the world, you have to check it out yourself before you sign. Ths allows you to ensure what you see online is actually what you get.

Contact the owners or realtors for certain properties and set up a time to do a walk-through. While there, make note of the tiny details like how the water runs in the shower and how you would store everything in the kitchen.

Keep an eye out for any damage that previous tenants may have caused, and take the surrounding area of the building into account. Is the neighborhood nice? What’s the parking situation like?

Ask yourself such questions at every place you go to.

When you find the one you love, double check that it fits your budget, and start the signing process.

Saving Money While Working from Home

If you’re looking to upgrade your quality of life when you move into a new rental, you’re going to need to boost your savings a bit.

Make this process easier for you by increasing your production levels at work from now until you move. Who knows, this little push may end up becoming your new normal level of production and earnings!

Outside of your day to day work tasks, there are other ways to save money – like with cashback and points on credit cards. This is more simple than you might think.

For a closer look at how cashback cards work, click here.